Getting to Understand How Coral Bleaching Affects How the Ecosystem Works in Local Areas
ByTo get a better and more in-depth understanding of how coral bleaching can really affect how an ecosystem can work, this blog with be focusing on one specific local area. The local area that will be the focus is Rockhampton. The first thing I will be talking about is the Trophic Levels and the energy transfer between each level.
Understanding the Trophic Levels
In the image below we can see that on the first level we have the producer, seagrass. The first level species will always have the most energy, which is 100% and as we go up the levels the less and less energy there will be, there’s about a 10% decrease in energy with every level. On the second level we have the herbivore or omnivore depending on what’s on the second level but in our case it’s an herbivore because the species on the second level is Sepia Latimanus(primary consumer). The Sepia Latimanus only gets a transfer of 10%. The third and final level is for the Humpback Whale (secondary consumer). The Humpback Whale only gets 1% of the original energy.
Food webs of the Great Barrier Reef
Let’s look at the food web to understand more about how energy transfer works within an ecosystem. As you can see, the species are connected, helping us to fully understand how energy transfers from one species to another. How if the coral dies the seagrass and everything else is put at a severe risk of dying off as well, from seagrass not getting the nutrients it needs and small fish like the Sepia Latimanus losing their habitats.
Factors that Affect the Success and Growth of Coral and how Human Activity can also affects them
There are several factors that affect the health and success of corals. One of the most significant factors is climate change as it’s also the cause of so many other ecological issues as well, it causes the ocean temperature to rise and leads to coral bleaching. The way we are affecting coral reefs with climate change is by oil drilling in the oceans, using very harsh chemicals in sunscreen and then going into the ocean and so much more. We also cause sediment to move and in return it can cause the coral to lack access to the right nutrients causing there to be a severe lack in growth of new coral.
When corals bleach, they lose their symbiotic algae, which provide them with food and color.
Another factor is pollution, which can cause corals to become stressed and more susceptible to disease. Overfishing and destructive fishing practices can also harm corals and cause physical damage from boats or anchors. Finally, invasive species such as the Lionfish can compete with corals for space and resources, further weakening their health.
Sources
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/ecosystems/impacts-invasive-lionfish
Last updated by Office of Communications on July 29, 2022
Last updated: January 20, 2023
Author: NOAA
Photograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic